Since 2003, Louisville's borders have been the same as those of Jefferson County, after a city-county merger.[14] The official name of this consolidated city-county government is the Louisville/Jefferson County Metro Government,[15] abbreviated to Louisville Metro.[16] Despite the merger and renaming, the term "Jefferson County" continues to be used in some contexts in reference to Louisville Metro, particularly including the incorporated cities outside the "balance" which make up Louisville proper. The city's total consolidated population as of the 2017 census estimate was 771,158.[4] However, the balance total of 621,349[5] excludes other incorporated places and semiautonomous towns within the county and is the population listed in most sources and national rankings.

The rapids at the Falls of the Ohio created a barrier to river travel, and as a result, settlements grew up at this stopping point. The first European settlement in the vicinity of modern-day Louisville was on Corn Island in 1778 by Col. George Rogers Clark, credited as the founder of Louisville. Several landmarks in the community are named after him.[19]

The city's early growth was influenced by the fact that river boats had to be unloaded and moved downriver before reaching the falls. By 1828, the population had grown to 7,000 and Louisville became an incorporated city.[23]

Early Louisville was a major shipping port and slaves worked in a variety of associated trades. The city was often a point of escape for slaves to the north, as Indiana was a free state.

During this point in the 1850s, the city was growing and vibrant, but that also came with negativity. It was the center of planning, supplies, recruiting, and transportation for numerous campaigns, especially in the Western Theater. By the year 1855, ethnic tension was arising. Nobody knew how far this would go, though. On August 6, 1855 "Bloody Monday" happened. Then by 1861, the civil war broke out. During the Civil War, Louisville was a major stronghold of Union forces, which kept Kentucky firmly in the Union. By the end of the war, Louisville had not been attacked, although skirmishes and battles, including the battles of Perryville and Corydon, took place nearby. After Reconstruction, returning Confederate veterans largely took political control of the city, leading to the jibe that Louisville joined the Confederacy after the war was over.

The first Kentucky Derby was held on May 17, 1875, at the Louisville Jockey Club track (later renamed Churchill Downs).[24] The Derby was originally shepherded by Meriwether Lewis Clark, Jr., the grandson of William Clark of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, and grandnephew of the city's founder George Rogers Clark. Horse racing had a strong tradition in Kentucky, whose Inner Bluegrass Region had been a center of breeding high-quality livestock throughout the 19th century. Ten thousand spectators watched the first Derby, which Aristides won.[25]

On March 27, 1890, the city was devastated and its downtown nearly destroyed when an F4tornado tore through as part of the middle Mississippi Valley tornado outbreak. An estimated 74 to 120 people were killed and 200 were injured. The damage cost the city $2.5 million[26] (equivalent to $69 million in 2019).[27]

In 1914, the City of Louisville passed a racially-based zoning residential zoning code, following Baltimore, Atlanta, and a handful of cities in the Carolinas.[28] The NAACP challenged the ordinance in two cases. Two weeks after the ordinance enacted, an African-American named Arthur Harris moved into a house on a block designated for whites. He was prosecuted and found guilty. The second case was planned to create a test case. William Warley, the president of the local chapter of the NAACP, tendered a purchase offer on a white block from Charles Buchanan, a white real estate agent. Warley also wrote a letter declaring his intention to build a house on that lot and reside there. With the understanding that the Louisville ordinance made it illegal for him to live there, Warley withheld payment, setting in motion a breach of contract suit by Buchanan.[29] By 1917 the US Supreme Court agreed to hear the case of Buchanan v. Warley. The court struck down the Louisville residential segregation ordinance, ruling that it violated the Fourteenth Amendment’s due process clause.[30]

Throughout January 1937, 19.17 inches (48.7 cm) of rain fell in Louisville, and by January 27, the Ohio River crested at a record 57.15 feet (17.42 m), almost 30 feet (9.1 m) above flood stage. These events triggered the "Great Flood of 1937", which lasted into early February. The flood submerged 60–70% of the city, caused complete loss of power for four days, and forced the evacuation of 175,000 or 230,000 residents, depending on sources. Ninety people died as a result of the flood.[31][32] It led to dramatic changes in where residents lived. Today, the city is protected by numerous flood walls. After the flood, the areas of high elevation in the eastern part of the city had decades of residential growth.

Louisville was a center for factory war production during World War II. In May 1942, the U.S. government assigned the Curtiss-Wright Aircraft Company, a war plant located at Louisville's air field, for wartime aircraft production. The factory produced the C-46 Commando cargo plane, among other aircraft. In 1946, the factory was sold to International Harvester, which began large-scale production of tractors and agricultural equipment. In 1950, the Census Bureau reported Louisville's population as 84.3% white and 15.6% black.[33]

Similar to many other older American cities, Louisville began to experience a movement of people and businesses to the suburbs in the 1960s and 1970s. Middle class residents used newly built freeways and interstate highways to commute to work, moving into more distant but newer housing. Because of tax laws, businesses found it cheaper to build new rather than renovate older buildings. Economic changes included a decline in local manufacturing. The West End and older areas of the South End, in particular, began to decline economically as many local factories closed.

In 1974, a major (F4) tornado hit Louisville as part of the 1974 Super Outbreak of tornadoes that struck 13 states. It covered 21 miles (34 km) and destroyed several hundred homes in the Louisville area, causing two deaths.[34]

Louisville and Jefferson County have a combined area of 397.68 square miles (1,030.0 km2), of which 380.46 square miles (985.4 km2) is land and 17.23 square miles (44.6 km2) (4.33%) is covered by water.[7]

Louisville is southeasterly situated along the border between Kentucky and Indiana, the Ohio River, in north-central Kentucky at the Falls of the Ohio. Although situated in a Southern state, Louisville is influenced by both Southern and Midwestern culture. It is sometimes referred to as either one of the northernmost Southern cities or as one of the southernmost Northern cities in the United States.[35][36]

Louisville is located in Kentucky's outer Bluegrass region.[37] Its development has been influenced by its location on the Ohio River, which spurred Louisville's growth from an isolated camp site into a major shipping port. Much of the city is located on a very wide and flat floodplain surrounded by hill country on all sides. Much of the area was swampland that had to be drained as the city grew. In the 1840s, most creeks were rerouted or placed in canals to prevent flooding and disease outbreaks.

Areas generally east of I-65 are above the flood plain, and are composed of gently rolling hills. The southernmost parts of Jefferson County are in the scenic and largely undeveloped Knobs region, which is home to Jefferson Memorial Forest.

The downtown business district of Louisville is located immediately south of the Ohio River and southeast of the Falls of the Ohio. Major roads extend outwards from the downtown area in all directions, like the spokes of a wheel. The airport is about 6.75 miles (10.86 km) south of the downtown area. The industrial sections of town are to the south and west of the airport, while most of the residential areas of the city are to the southwest, south, and east of downtown. In 2010, the 22,000-seat KFC Yum! Center was completed.[38][39] Twelve of the 15 buildings in Kentucky over 300 feet (91 m) are located in downtown Louisville.

Another primary business and industrial district is located in the suburban area east of the city on Hurstbourne Parkway.[40]

Louisville's late 19th- and early 20th-century development was spurred by three large suburban parks built at the edges of the city in 1890.

The city's architecture contains a blend of old and new. The Old Louisville neighborhood is the largest historic preservation district solely featuring Victorian homes and buildings in the United States;[41][42] it is also the third-largest such district overall. Victorian architecture is a series of architectural revival styles. The reason that the Victorian style became so popular is because it began to emigrate. First to the colonies and then the British empire and beyond.[relevant? – discuss] Many modern skyscrapers are located downtown, as well as older preserved structures, such as the Southern National Bank building. The buildings of West Main Street in downtown Louisville have the largest collection of cast iron facades of anywhere outside of New York's SoHo district.[43]

Since the mid-20th century, Louisville has in some ways been divided into three sides of town: the West End, the South End, and the East End. In 2003, Bill Dakan, a University of Louisville geography professor, said that the West End, west of 7th Street and north of Algonquin Parkway, is "a euphemism for the African American part of town" although he points out that this belief is not entirely true, and most African Americans no longer live in areas where more than 80% of residents are black. Nevertheless, he says the perception is still strong.[44] The South End has long had a reputation as a white, working-class part of town, while the East End has been seen as middle and upper class.[45]

According to the Greater Louisville Association of Realtors, the area with the lowest median home sales price is west of Interstate 65, in the West and South Ends, the middle range of home sales prices are between Interstates 64 and 65 in the South and East Ends, and the highest median home sales price are north of Interstate 64 in the East End.[46]Immigrants from Southeast Asia tend to settle in the South End, while immigrants from Eastern Europe settle in the East End.[47]

Louisville has a humid subtropical climate (KöppenCfa) with four distinct seasons and is located in USDA hardiness zones 6b and 7a.[10] Spring-like conditions typically begin in mid-to-late March, summer from mid-to-late-May to late September, with fall in the October–November period. Seasonal extremes in both temperature and precipitation are not uncommon during early spring and late fall; severe weather is not uncommon, with occasional tornado outbreaks in the region. Winter typically brings a mix of rain, sleet, and snow, with occasional heavy snowfall and icing. Louisville averages 4.5 days with low temperatures dipping to 10 °F (−12 °C);[48] the first and last freezes of the season on average fall on November 2 and April 5, respectively.[49] Summer is typically hazy, hot, and humid with long periods of 90–100 °F (32–38 °C) temperatures and drought conditions at times. Louisville averages 38 days a year with high temperatures at or above 90 °F (32 °C). The mean annual temperature is 58.2 °F (14.6 °C), with an average annual snowfall of 12.7 inches (32 cm) and an average annual rainfall of 44.9 inches (1,140 mm).

The wettest seasons are spring and summer, although rainfall is fairly constant year round. During the winter, particularly in January and February, several days of snow can be expected. January is the coldest month, with a mean temperature of 34.9 °F (1.6 °C). July is the average hottest month with a mean of 79.3 °F (26.3 °C).[50] The highest recorded temperature was 107 °F (42 °C), which last occurred on July 14, 1936, and the lowest recorded temperature was −22 °F (−30 °C) on January 19, 1994.[51] In 2012, Louisville had the fourth-hottest summer on record, with the temperature rising up to 106 °F (41 °C) in July and the June all-time monthly record high temperature being broken on two consecutive days.[49] As the city exemplifies the urban heat island effect, temperatures in commercial areas and in the industrialized areas along interstates are often higher than in the suburbs, often as much as 5 °F (2.8 °C).

Like many cities across the country, Louisville saw an extremely wet year in 2018. As of December 27, Louisville had received 66.86 inches of rain throughout the year. That is only 1.16 inches shy of the record rainfall (68.02 inches) which fell on the city in 2011. With a few more days until the New Year, this could be one for the record books.[52]

Between the 1970-2000 official US census count, Louisville had been losing population each decade. As of the 2000 census, Louisville had a population of 256,231, down from the 1990 census population of 269,063.[5] Due to the city-county merger that occurred in 2003, which expanded the city limits, the city's population increased to 597,337 at the 2010 census count.

Louisville is the largest city in Kentucky, with 17.1% of the state's total population as of 2010; the balance's percentage was 13.8%.[56] In 2010, over one-third of the population growth in Kentucky was in Louisville's CSA counties.[citation needed]

Map of racial distribution in Louisville, 2010 U.S. Census. Each dot is 25 people: White, Black, Asian, Hispanic or Other (yellow)

The 2007 demographic breakdown for the entire Louisville Metro area was 74.8% White (71.7% non-Hispanic), 22.2% Black, 0.6% American Indian, 2.0% Asian, 0.1% Hawaiian or Pacific islander, 1.4% other, and 1.6% multiracial. About 2.9% of the total population was identified as Hispanic of any race. During the same year, the area of premerger Louisville consisted 60.1% White, 35.2% African American, 1.9% Asian, 0.2% American Indian, and 3.0% other, with 2.4% identified as Hispanic of any race.

Of the 287,012 households, 29.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.2% were married couples living together, 14.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.2% were not families. About 30.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.37 and the average family size was 2.97.

The age distribution is 24.3% under the age of 18, 8.9% from 18 to 24, 30.4% from 25 to 44, 22.8% from 45 to 64, and 13.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 91.60 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.60 males.

The median income for a household in 2017 was $51,960. For non-family households the median income was $32,446, and for family households was $67,965. In 2017, males had a median income of $36,326 while females had a median income of $30,464.[57] The latest available data for per capita income comes from 2006, and was $23,304 for the county.[58] About 9.5% of families and 15.1% of the population were below the poverty line in 2017, including 23.5% of those under age 18 and 8.2% of those ages 65 or over.[59]

The Jewish population of around 8,500 in the city is served by five synagogues. Most Jewish families emigrated from Eastern Europe at the start of the 20th century; around 800 Soviet Jews have moved to Louisville since 1991.[66] Jewish immigrants founded Jewish Hospital in what was once the center of the city's Jewish district. From 2005 to 2012, Jewish Hospital merged with two Kentucky-based Catholic healthcare systems to form KentuckyOne Health, which later in 2012 announced a partnership with the University of Louisville Hospital. A significant focal point for Louisville's Jewish community is located near Bowman Field, where there are two Orthodox synagogues (including Anshei Sfard, founded in 1893), the Jewish Community Center, Jewish Family and Career Services, and an affordable housing complex.

Since 1996, every May, the Festival of Faiths,[67] a five-day national interfaith gathering, is held featuring music, poetry, film, art and dialogue with internationally renowned spiritual leaders, thinkers and practitioners. The festival is organized by the Center for Interfaith Relations[68] and is held at Actors Theatre of Louisville.[69][70]

Louisville first welcomed the Bahá'í Faith in 1920.The Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'i of Louisville was formed in 1944 when their community reached the required amount of 9 adult Bahá'ís. The first Bahá'í center opened in Louisville in 1967 in Crescent Hill. When the community outgrew the space in 1985, it was sold and another center opened in Buechel in 1998.[71]

Louisville is a significant center of manufacturing, with two major Ford plants, and the headquarters and major home appliance factory of GE Appliances (a subsidiary of Haier). The city is also a major center of the American whiskey industry, with about one-third of all bourbon coming from Louisville.[75][76][77][78]Brown-Forman, one of the major makers of American whiskey, is headquartered in Louisville and operates a distillery in the Louisville suburb of Shively. The current primary distillery site operated by Heaven Hill, called the Bernheim distillery, is also located in Louisville near Brown-Forman's distillery. Other distilleries and related businesses can also be found in neighboring cities in Kentucky, such as Bardstown, Clermont, Lawrenceburg, and Loretto. Similar to the Kentucky Bourbon Trail that links these central Kentucky locations, Louisville offers tourists its own "Urban Bourbon Trail",[79] where people can stop at nearly 20 "area bars and restaurants, all offering at least 50 labels of America's only native spirit".[77]

Not typically known for high tech outside of the previously identified industries, the city in the 2010s has been at or near the forefront of some high-tech-related developments. In April 2017, Google Fiber confirmed that Louisville will be wired for its ultrafast network,[80] but decided to remove the network in April of 2019 due to construction issues. [81] Meanwhile, since October 2016, AT&T Fiber has been building out its similar service in the city as well as neighboring counties in Indiana.[82] Beyond networking, the city, through its public–private partnership called Code Louisville, recognized by President Barack Obama, is aiding area residents in the learning of software coding skills.[83][84][85]

The month of October features the St. James Court Art Show in Old Louisville. Thousands of artists gather on the streets and in the courtyard to exhibit and sell their wares, and the event is attended by many art collectors and enthusiasts. The show typically brings in a crowd of over 150,000 people and $3 million in sales.[91]

Another art-related event that occurs every month is the First Friday Hop.[92] A free TARC bus takes art lovers to many downtown area (especially East Market District/NuLu) independent art galleries on the first Friday of every month.

Louisville has blossomed as a booming center for independent art, music and business.

A Louisville locale that highlights this scene is Bardstown Road, an area located in the heart of the Highlands. Bardstown Road is known for its cultural diversity and local trade. The majority of the businesses along Bardstown Road, such as coffee shops, clothing stores and art galleries, are locally owned and operated businesses. Though it is only about one mile (1.6 km) long, this strip of Bardstown Road constitutes much of the city's culture and diverse lifestyle, contributing to the unofficial "Keep Louisville Weird" slogan.

In downtown Louisville, 21c Museum Hotel, a hotel that showcases contemporary art installations and exhibitions throughout its public spaces, and features a red penguin on its roof, is, according to The New York Times, "an innovative concept with strong execution and prompt and enthusiastic service".

Especially catering to Louisville's music scene is 91.9 WFPK Radio Louisville, a local public radio station funded, in part, from local listeners. The station features not only national and international musicians common to public radio, but also local and regional talent. The station also hosts summer concerts on the waterfront from April until July, where up-and-coming alternative artists are brought to stage.

The West Main District in downtown Louisville features what is locally known as "Museum Row". In this area is the Frazier History Museum, which opened its doors in 2004 as an armaments museum, featuring the only collection of Royal Armouries artifacts outside of the United Kingdom. Since then the Frazier has expanded its focus to broader history. The Frazier Museum has three floors of exhibits, an education center and a tournament ring, which presents daily performances, as well as event spaces available for rent, including a rooftop garden featuring native plants and 4th floor loft-style space that accommodates up to 360 people seated.

The National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) is a patriotic, historical, and educational non-profit organization and a leading male lineage society that perpetuates the ideals of the American war for independence and the founding of the United States. The SAR opened its National Genealogical Research Library in 2010 along Louisville's Museum Row next door to its national headquarters, with an on-site American Revolutionary War Education Center expected to be completed soon.

The Speed Art Museum opened in 1927 and is the oldest and largest art museum in the state of Kentucky. The museum was closed for three years, re-opening in 2016 with 220,000 sq. ft. of renovations.[93] Located adjacent to the University of Louisville, the museum features over 12,000 pieces of art in its permanent collection and hosts traveling exhibitions. Multiple art galleries are located in the city, but they are especially concentrated in the East Market District (NuLu), immediately to the east of downtown. This row of galleries, plus others in the West Main District, are prominently featured in the monthly First Friday Hop.

The Louisville Orchestra was founded in 1937 by conductor Robert Whitney and Charles Farnsley, then Mayor of Louisville, and was a world leader in commissioning and recording contemporary works for orchestra from the 1950s to 1980s. The Louisville Orchestra today performs more than 125 concerts per year with a core of salaried musicians and is recognized as a cornerstone of the Louisville arts community.

The Louisville Palace, the official venue for the Louisville Orchestra, is an ornate theatre in downtown Louisville's so-called theatre district. In addition to orchestra performances, the theatre shows films and hosts concerts.

Iroquois Park is the home of the renovated Iroquois Amphitheater, which hosts a variety of musical concerts in a partially covered outdoor setting.

College basketball is particularly popular. The Louisville Cardinals's Freedom Hall averaged sellouts for 10 straight years and the downtown KFC Yum! Center following suit with regular sellouts. The Cardinals ranked third nationally in attendance in 2012–13,[95] the most recent of the program's three national championship seasons. The Cardinals also hold the Big East conference women's basketball paid attendance record with nearly 17,000 attending the game against the Kentucky Wildcats in 2008.
The Louisville market has ranked first in ratings for the NCAA men's basketball tournament every year since 1999.[96] The Kentucky Wildcats used to play an annual game in Freedom Hall.

Between 1967 and 1976, Louisville was home to the Kentucky Colonels of the American Basketball Association. The Colonels was one of the ABA's most successful teams during its existence, winning four division titles and the 1975 ABA Championship, but was not invited to join the NBA when the two leagues merged in 1976, and subsequently folded.

In development is the City of Parks, a project to create a 110-mile (180 km) continuous paved pedestrian and biking trail called the Louisville Loop around Louisville Metro while also adding a large amount of park land. Current plans call for making approximately 4,000 acres (16 km2) of the Floyds Fork flood plain in eastern Jefferson County into a new park system called The Parklands of Floyds Fork, expanding area in the Jefferson Memorial Forest, and adding riverfront land and wharfs along the Riverwalk and Levee Trail, both completed segments of the Louisville Loop.

On January 6, 2003, Louisville merged its government with that of Jefferson County, forming coterminous borders.[14] Louisville was the second and only other city in the state to merge with its county since Lexington merged with Fayette County in 1974.

The Metro Council consists of 26 seats representing districts apportioned by population throughout the city and county. The residents of the semi-independent municipalities within Louisville Metro are apportioned to districts along with all other county residents. Half (13) of the seats come up for reelection every two years. The council is chaired by a Council President, currently David Yates (D), who is elected by the council members annually. Democrats currently have a 17 to 9 seat majority on the council.

Before merger, under the Kentucky Constitution and statutory law Louisville was designated as a first-class city in regard to local laws affecting public safety, alcohol beverage control, revenue options, and various other matters; as of 2014, it is the only such designated city in the state.[105]

The Official Seal of the City of Louisville, no longer used following the merger, reflected its history and heritage in the fleur-de-lis representing French aid given during the Revolutionary War and the thirteen stars signifying the original colonies. The new Seal of Louisville Metro retains the fleur-de-lis, but has only two stars, one representing the city and the other the county.

In a 2005 survey, Morgan Quitno Press ranked Louisville as the seventh safest large city in the United States.[108] The 2006 edition of the survey ranked Louisville eighth.[109]

In 2004, Louisville recorded 70 murders. The numbers for 2005 ranged from 55 to 59 (FBI says 55, LMPD says 59), which was down 16 percent from 2004.[110] In 2006, Louisville-Jefferson County recorded 50 murders, which was significantly lower than previous years. In 2008, Louisville recorded 79 murders.[111]

The Louisville Metro Area's overall violent crime rate was 412.6 per 100,000 residents in 2005.[112] The Elizabethtown, Kentucky Metro Area, which is part of Louisville's Combined Statistical Area, was the 17th safest Metro in the U.S.[113] Kentucky has the 5th lowest violent crime rate out of the 50 states.[114]

Violent crime is most concentrated west of downtown, especially in the Russell neighborhood. The West End, located north of Algonquin Parkway and West of 9th Street, had 32 of the city's 79 murders in 2007.[115]

Louisville has recently been featured on the television show First 48. The show follows LMPD's homicide unit while they try to solve murders.

Fire protection is provided by 16 independent fire departments working in concert through mutual aid agreements. The only fire department operated by Metro Government is Louisville Fire & Rescue, the successor to the pre-merger Louisville Division of Fire. The city of Shively in western Jefferson County possesses an independent fire department that uses the same dispatch and radio channels as Louisville Fire and Rescue.[citation needed] The other 14 fire departments in Louisville-Jefferson County are run by independent taxing districts, collectively referred to as the Jefferson County Fire Service (JCFS); the county fire service coordinates dispatch, training, and standardization for its member departments.

WAVE 3, an NBC affiliate, was Kentucky's first TV station. Another prominent TV station is ABC affiliate WHAS 11, formerly owned by the Bingham family (who also owned The Courier-Journal), which hosts the regionally notable annual fundraiser, the WHAS Crusade for Children. CBS affiliate WLKY 32 and Fox affiliate WDRB 41 (along with its sister station WBKI) round out the major television stations in the city.

As with most American cities, transportation in Louisville is based primarily on automobiles. However, the city traces its foundation to the era where the river was the primary means of transportation, and railroads have been an important part of local industry for over a century. In more recent times, Louisville has become an international hub for air cargo.

Louisville has inner and outer interstate beltways, I-264 and I-265 respectively. Interstates I-64 and I-65 pass through Louisville, and I-71 has its southern terminus in Louisville. Since all three of these highways intersect at virtually the same location on the east side of downtown, this spot has become known as "Spaghetti Junction". Two bridges carry I-64 and I-65 over the Ohio River, and a third automobile bridge carries non-interstate traffic, including bicyclists and pedestrians. Immediately east of downtown is the Big Four Bridge, a former railroad bridge now renovated as a pedestrian bridge.

The Ohio River Bridges Project, a plan under consideration for decades to construct two new interstate bridges over the Ohio River to connect Louisville to Indiana, including a reconfiguration of Spaghetti Junction, began construction in 2012.[120] One bridge, the Abraham Lincoln Bridge, is located downtown beside the existing Kennedy Bridge for relief of I-65 traffic. The other, named the Lewis and Clark Bridge, connects I-265 between the portions located in southeast Clark County, Indiana and northeast Jefferson County, Kentucky (Louisville Metro).[121] Both bridges and corresponding construction were finished in 2016.[122][123] As with any major project, there have been detractors and possible alternatives; one grassroots organization, 8664.org, has proposed options for downtown revitalization improvements, and a simpler and less expensive roadway design.

Louisville's main airport is the centrally located Louisville International Airport, whose IATA Airport code (SDF) reflects its former name of Standiford Field. The airport is also home to UPS's Worldport global air hub. UPS operates its largest package-handling hub at Louisville International Airport and bases its UPS Airlines division there. Over 3.2 million passengers and over 4.7 billion pounds (2,350,000 t) of cargo pass through the airport each year.[124] It is also the third busiest airport in the United States in terms of cargo traffic, and seventh busiest for such in the world.[125] Furthermore, since Louisville is located only around 35 minutes from Fort Knox, the airport is a major hub for armed services personnel traveling to and from the military installation. The historic but smaller Bowman Field is used mainly for general aviation while nearby Clark Regional Airport is used mostly by private jets.

The McAlpine Locks and Dam is located on the Kentucky side of the Ohio River, near the downtown area. The locks were constructed to allow shipping past the Falls of the Ohio. In 2001 over 55 million tons of commodities passed through the locks.

Toonerville II Trolleys provided transportation in downtown Louisville up through 2014, before being replaced by ZeroBus.

The Ohio River provides for most of the city's source of drinking water. Water is drawn from the river at two points: the raw waterpump station at Zorn Avenue and River Road, and the B.E. Payne Pump Station northeast of Harrods Creek. Water is also obtained from a riverbank infiltration well at the Payne Plant. There are also two water treatment plants serving the Louisville Metro area: The Crescent Hill Treatment Plant and the B.E. Payne Treatment Plant. In June 2008, the Louisville Water Company received the "Best of the Best" award from the American Water Works Association, citing it as the best-tasting drinking water in the country.[131]

In addition, Leeds has been recognized as a "friendship city". The two cities have engaged in many cultural exchange programs, particularly in the fields of nursing and law, and cooperated in several private business developments, including the Frazier History Museum.[137]

On April 15, 2008, it was announced that Louisville would be twinned with the town of Bushmills in Northern Ireland. The two places share a tradition for the distilling of whiskey. The choice of Louisville came after a search of U.S. cities, followed by an online poll conducted for the public to decide between three finalists, which also included Boston and Portland, Maine.[138]

Although not technically a sister city, Louisville has friendly and cooperative relations with Chengdu, China.[139]

^ abLouisville's "balance" population is considered in determining rank among cities in the U.S.

^Under Kentucky's current classification scheme, which went into effect on January 1, 2015, cities with a mayor–alderman form of government are first-class, with the "home rule class" covering all other forms. This replaced a system in which cities were divided into six classes, nominally by population.[11]

^Mean monthly maxima and minima (i.e. the expected highest and lowest temperature readings at any point during the year or given month) calculated based on data at said location from 1981 to 2010.

^Meyer, David R. (December 1989). "Midwestern Industrialization and the American Manufacturing Belt in the Nineteenth Century". The Journal of Economic History. 49 (4): 921–937. doi:10.1017/S0022050700009505. JSTOR2122744.

The municipal flag of Louisville is the official design used on flags to represent Louisville, Kentucky. The original design paid homage to Louis XVI of France and the thirteen states present when the city was founded, a new design was adopted in 2003 when the city merged with Jefferson County, Kentucky. The municipal flag of Louisville consists of a golden fleur-de-lis with two stars surrounded by the circular Louisville • Jefferson County METRO on a blue background, the year 1778 is centrally located, signifying the citys founding. This flag has been used since the merger of the old city of Louisville with Jefferson County in 2003. The flag previously used by the city consists of 13 white stars arranged in a pattern in the upper-left corner with three golden fleur-de-lis in the lower-right on a navy blue background. The stars represent the 13 states which existed at Louisvilles founding in 1778, the fleur-de-lis honor King Louis XVI of France, after whom Louisville was named because Frances support during the American Revolution.

It was ranked as the ninth best city flag in the United States in a survey conducted in 2003. It was replaced by the current design when the city merged with Jefferson County

The Democratic Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The Democrats dominant worldview was once socially conservative and fiscally classical liberalism, especially in the rural South, since Franklin D. Roosevelt and his New Deal coalition in the 1930s, the Democratic Party has promoted a social-liberal platform, supporting social justice. Today, the House Democratic caucus is composed mostly of progressives and centrists, the partys philosophy of modern liberalism advocates social and economic equality, along with the welfare state. It seeks to provide government intervention and regulation in the economy, the party has united with smaller left-wing regional parties throughout the country, such as the Farmer–Labor Party in Minnesota and the Nonpartisan League in North Dakota. Well into the 20th century, the party had conservative pro-business, the New Deal Coalition of 1932–1964 attracted strong support from voters of recent European extraction—many of whom were Catholics based in the cities.

After Franklin D. Roosevelts New Deal of the 1930s, the pro-business wing withered outside the South, after the racial turmoil of the 1960s, most southern whites and many northern Catholics moved into the Republican Party at the presidential level. The once-powerful labor union element became smaller and less supportive after the 1970s, white Evangelicals and Southerners became heavily Republican at the state and local level in the 1990s. However, African Americans became a major Democratic element after 1964, after 2000, Hispanic and Latino Americans, Asian Americans, the LGBT community, single women and professional women moved towards the party as well. The Northeast and the West Coast became Democratic strongholds by 1990 after the Republicans stopped appealing to socially liberal voters there, the Democratic Party has retained a membership lead over its major rival the Republican Party. The most recent was the 44th president Barack Obama, who held the office from 2009 to 2017, in the 115th Congress, following the 2016 elections, Democrats are the opposition party, holding a minority of seats in both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

The party holds a minority of governorships, and state legislatures, though they do control the mayoralty of cities such as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington, D. C. The Democratic Party traces its origins to the inspiration of the Democratic-Republican Party, founded by Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and that party inspired the Whigs and modern Republicans. Organizationally, the modern Democratic Party truly arose in the 1830s, since the nomination of William Jennings Bryan in 1896, the party has generally positioned itself to the left of the Republican Party on economic issues. They have been liberal on civil rights issues since 1948. On foreign policy both parties changed position several times and that party, the Democratic-Republican Party, came to power in the election of 1800. After the War of 1812 the Federalists virtually disappeared and the national political party left was the Democratic-Republicans. The Democratic-Republican party still had its own factions, however.

As Norton explains the transformation in 1828, Jacksonians believed the peoples will had finally prevailed, through a lavishly financed coalition of state parties, political leaders, and newspaper editors, a popular movement had elected the president

Downtown Louisville is the largest central business district in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the urban hub of the Louisville, Kentucky Metropolitan Area. Its boundaries are the Ohio River to the north, Hancock Street to the east and Jacob Streets to the south, as of 2000, the population of Downtown Louisville was 2,575. The five main areas of the Central Business District consist of, of the 16 buildings in Kentucky over 300 feet,12 are in Downtown Louisville. In addition, it is the center of local and regional government, a glassed-in skywalk called the Louie Link stretches six city blocks and links together the Kentucky International Convention Center, Fourth Street Live. Three hotels, and 2,300 hotel rooms, Downtown Louisville is the oldest part of the city of Louisville, whose initial development was closely tied to the Ohio River. The largest early fort, Fort Nelson, was built in 1781 near what is today the corner of 7th, many early residents lived nearby after moving out of the forts by the mid-1780s, although little remains of the earliest structures.

Early plans of the city, such as William Popes original plan in 1783, the earliest streets, Main and Jefferson retain their original names from the plan, while the smaller Green Street is now known as Liberty. Main Street was the initial commercial hub for nearly a century. By 1830 Louisville passed Lexington as Kentuckys largest city, with a population over 10,000, the steamboat era saw the opening of the Louisville and Portland Canal just west of downtown, and local commerce picked up further with the founding of banks and manufacturing. Most of Louisvilles population was packed into downtown, which by this time stretched as far south as Prather Street, many still-remaining buildings reveal what the area was like at this time, with narrow, two to four-story buildings packing the streets. The area and the city continued to grow during the railroad era, railroads lead to a diminished role for the river in transportation, further reducing the importance of downtown in favor of areas on what was the edge of the city, along rail lines.

In 1886, the first skyscraper, the Kenyon Building, was completed on Fifth Street, the development of three large suburban parks and the electrified streetcar lead to the first true movement to the suburbs at this time. Some of downtowns business and industry followed people toward these areas, but by the 1920s the commercial center of Louisville was still nearby, at 4th and Broadway, dubbed the magic corner by the Herald-Post. The riverfront area of downtown was still being improved, such as with the building of what is now George Rogers Clark Memorial Bridge across the Ohio at Second Street in 1929. After World War II, suburbanization increased and downtown began to decline as interstate highways further reduced the importance of its central location, since the 1970s, downtown has been the subject of both urban renewal and historic preservation efforts. While many new buildings have built, it has sometimes been at the expense of older landmarks. Many buildings sat totally or mostly vacant at this time, many riverfront industrial sites were abandoned or saw limited use, many were eventually redeveloped into Louisville Waterfront Park.

Other issues in the 1970s through the early 1990s included a theater district on Jefferson Street that had become dubbed the porno district

The Kentucky Derby Festival is an annual festival held in Louisville, Kentucky during the two weeks preceding the first Saturday in May, the day of the Kentucky Derby. The first director was Olympic gold medallist Arnold Jackson, in 1937, a Derby Festival king and queen were crowned, marking the start of this tradition. After the floods of 1937, the festival was discontinued and it was not until 1956 when the modern-day Kentucky Derby Festival was reborn, the Royal Court is among the oldest traditions of the Kentucky Derby Festival tradition, dating back to the 1950s. The Royal Court consists of a group of five young women chosen to preside over events related to the Kentucky Derby and these women officially represent both the Derby Festival and the city of Louisville. In early spring, a court of Derby Princesses is selected from a pool of more than 1000 applicants, thirty finalists are selected and the pool is reduced to five young women who make up the court. Criteria for the selection of the members includes knowledge of the Derby Festival, intelligence.

The court attends nearly 70 events during the period leading up to the Kentucky Derby. The queen is selected by a spin of the wheel at the Annual Fillies Derby Ball, the festival saw this method of queen selections as the most fair way to select from their court and the tradition continues today. The festivals first major event is Thunder Over Louisville, Thunder kicks off with a day-long air show ranked as fifth-largest in the United States and the largest fireworks display in North America. The approximately 30 minute firework display begins at nightfall, Thunder Over Louisvilles fireworks have been designed and performed by Zambelli Fireworks International since 1991. Each year, an official Derby Festival poster is unveiled and prints are sold to help finance festival events and photographers who have produced the prized posters include Peter Max and Michael Schwab. Recognition is given to Louisvilles hardworking restaurant employees with the Run for the Rosé, waiters and waitresses run an obstacle course while carrying trays of glasses filled with White Zinfandel Wine.

Servers finishing with the best time and most wine remaining in the glasses win prizes, the Kentucky Derby miniMarathon and Marathon occur the Saturday before the Kentucky Derby. USA Track and Field named the miniMarathon among the nations top 50 races, a controversial aspect of the Derby Festival is Derby Cruising. Though it is not an official or licensed event during Derby Festival, it place in the historically black areas of West Broadway on Derby day. Cruising consists of motorcycles and cars driving slowly down Broadway, pedestrians crowding the sidewalks, the gridlock associated with cruising made it difficult for police to respond to instances of violence during 2005 Derby cruising. In 2007, police announced similar plans, although more of Broadway was to remain open. A federal judge allowed the plans to proceed, citing concerns about public safety, police reported that arrests were down from 2007, although they did shut down a 10-block portion of Broadway for a short time on Derby evening after gridlock developed

The Louisville Metro Council is the city council of Louisville, Kentucky. It was formally established in January 2003 upon the merger of the former City of Louisville with Jefferson County and replaced the citys Board of Aldermen, Louisville City Hall houses the offices and chambers of the council. The Metro Council consists of twenty-six seats corresponding to districts apportioned by population throughout Jefferson County, although all cities in Jefferson County, apart from Louisville, retained their status after the merger, their residents are represented on Metro Council and vote alongside other county residents. The seats come up for every four years, using a staggered process so that only half of the seats are up every two years. Since the councils inception, Democrats have maintained a majority in the chamber, Democrats gained two seats in the 2010 election. The Louisville Metro Council President is the officer of the council. The Council President is elected annually by a majority vote of the council at the councils first meeting in January.

Currently the Council President is David Yates, elected on January 7,2016, Yates is the youngest serving president in the councils history. In 2007, the council considered a ban on trans fats, archived from the original on 2007-09-27. — shows the history of each member of the council

The Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory, is a museum and factory tour attraction located in Louisville, Kentuckys Museum Row, part of the West Main District of downtown. The museum showcases the story of Louisville Slugger baseball bats in baseball, the facility is the fourth location where Louisville Slugger bats have been made. The original shop was on South First Street in Louisville between Main and Market Streets. It was there that family legend suggests J. A. Bud Hillerich made a bat for Louisville Eclipse star Pete Browning after Browning broke his bat during a game in which Hillerich attended in July 1884. The next day, Browning got three hits with the bat and the legend was born, in 1901, the factory moved to the corner of South Preston and Finzer Streets, where they would stay until 1974. This site was vacant for years after, but the land was donated to the city in 2015 to be developed into a community space. Starting in the early 1990s, H&B CEO John A, jack Hillerich III began looking to move production back to Louisville.

Hillerich wanted to bring the factory together with the business offices while providing a place for the public to connect with the Louisville Slugger brand. Eventually, a site at 8th and Main Streets was chosen, after extensive renovations, the Museum & Factory opened in July 1996 with a gala of Hall of Fame players, including Ted Williams, Stan Musial, Ernie Banks, Harmon Killebrew and Pee Wee Reese. The museum underwent extensive renovations in 2008, led by Formations, Inc of Portland, in 2015, the Museum & Factory broke its own attendance record, drawing more than 300,000 visitors. The building houses offices for Hillerich & Bradsby and its two other divisions, Bionic Gloves and PowerBilt Golf Clubs. Wilson Sporting Goods maintains much of its Louisville Slugger sales force in the building after purchasing the brand from Hillerich & Bradsby in 2015, the Hillerich family maintains ownership of the museum and bat factory. The museum routinely travels around the country with a version of the experience called the Mobile Museum.

These experiences often include old-time bat making demonstrations, a Hold a Piece of History exhibit and assorted team-specific exhibits, since 2013, the museum has visited U. S. Cellular Field, Miller Park, Busch Stadium, Progressive Field and Victory Field as well as Winter Warm-Ups for the Cincinnati Reds, Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, a Mobile Museum was set up at the 2015 Major League Baseball All-Star Game Fan Fest in Cincinnati. Worlds Largest Baseball Bat - Guinness World Records for largest baseball bat is 120 ft. tall, batter Up - A pitching simulator that gives guests three pitches to try and strike out a batter. Though full production may not be in place on evenings and holidays, bat making still occurs on every tour, in 2015, the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory was named one of the most beautiful factories in the world. Starting in 2007, Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory has awarded a Living Legend Award, the Award coincides with an annual memorabilia auction from Philadelphia-based auction house Hunt Auctions

For example, a plant that is described as hardy to zone 10 means that the plant can withstand a minimum temperature of −1 °C. A more resilient plant that is hardy to zone 9 can tolerate a temperature of −7 °C. First developed by the United States Department of Agriculture, the use of the zones has been adopted by other countries, another issue is that the hardiness zones do not take into account the reliability of the snow cover. Snow acts as an insulator against extreme cold, protecting the system of hibernating plants. If the snow cover is reliable, the temperature to which the roots are exposed will not be as low as the hardiness zone number would indicate. As an example, Quebec City in Canada is located in zone 4, but, in Montreal, located to the southwest in zone 5, it is sometimes difficult to cultivate plants adapted to the zone because of the unreliable snow cover. Other factors that affect plant survival, though not considered in hardiness zones, are soil moisture, the number of days of frost, and the risk of a rare catastrophic cold snap.

Some risk evaluation – the probability of getting a severe low temperature – often would be more useful than just the average conditions. Lastly, many plants may survive in a locality but will not flower if the day length is insufficient or if they require vernalization, with annuals, the time of planting can often be adjusted to allow growth beyond their normal geographical range. An alternative means of describing plant hardiness is to use indicator plants, in this method, common plants with known limits to their range are used. Gardening books are available that provide information on climate zones. For example, Sunset Books publishes a series that breaks up climate zones more finely than the USDA zones. They identify 45 distinct zones in the US, incorporating ranges of temperatures in all seasons, wind patterns and this means that the hardiness zones relevant to Britain and Ireland are quite high, from 7 to 10, as shown below. In Scotland the Grampians and locally in the Southern Uplands, in England the Pennines, Most of England and Scotland, parts of central Ireland, and Snaefell on the Isle of Man.

Interstate 264 is a loop around the south side of the city of Louisville, Kentucky. It is 22.93 miles in length, and runs a circle around central Louisville. The highway begins four miles west of downtown at I-64 just east of the Sherman Minton Bridge which links Southern Indiana with Kentucky as it crosses the Ohio River, the interstate ends approximately six miles northeast of downtown Louisville, where it connects to I-71. Louisville is one of few U. S. cities with two Interstate Highways serving as inner and outer beltways, I-264 is Louisvilles inner beltway and the constructed I-265, the Gene Snyder Freeway, is Louisvilles outer beltway. I-264 is currently used as the detour route when Interstate 64 is closed through Downtown Louisville. This may change for through traffic in late 2016 with the completion of the East End Bridge, in discussions about the city, Interstate 264 is often used as a rough line dividing the older areas of Louisville from its suburbs. In 1948, a bypass was built between Shelbyville Road and U. S.

Route 31W in Louisville, as a relocation of US60 and it was incorporated into the Interstate Highway System in 1956. The highway was completed in 1974, and in 1952 the road from Dixie Highway east to I-71 was named after the journalist, the designation US60 was dropped in 1984 when the original surface roads through Louisville were restored to their original US60 designation. The western segment from Dixie Highway to I-64 northwest of downtown Louisville was opened in segments from 1970 to August 1974 and this stretch of I-264 was originally named, and is still often referred to as, the Shawnee Expressway. Dozens of bridges were reconstructed and widened, and the majority of the interchanges were redesigned, the entire highway reconstruction project was completed in 1995. A typical deficient interchange along I-264 was the I-65, Kentucky Exposition Center, before the reconstruction, two cloverleafs with no collector and distributor lanes existed and posed serious weaving issues. The interchange today has been rebuilt and features numerous flyovers and collector and distributor lanes, making it safer, though not necessarily easier to navigate.

The segment of I-264 from Dixie Highway to the northwest I-64 interchange opened in segments from 1970 to August 1974, in addition, the segment from River Park Drive to I-64, which was only two lanes, was widened to three lanes. No major ramp or interchange modifications were needed, the highway reconstruction project cost approximately $66 million and required 18 months of labor. About 70,000 vehicles a day use the portion of Interstate 264 near Dixie Highway, although the Kentucky General Assembly considered plans for an interchange with Westport Road as early as 1992, work did not begin until October 2008 and was completed in May 2010. The entire route is in Louisville, Jefferson County, roads in Louisville, Kentucky Kleber, John E. et al

The United States Census Bureau is a principal agency of the U. S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureaus primary mission is conducting the U. S. Census every ten years, in addition to the decennial census, the Census Bureau continually conducts dozens of other censuses and surveys, including the American Community Survey, the U. S. Economic Census, and the Current Population Survey, furthermore and foreign trade indicators released by the federal government typically contain data produced by the Census Bureau. The Bureaus various censuses and surveys help allocate over $400 billion in federal funds every year and help states, local communities, the Census Bureau is part of the U. S. Department of Commerce and its director is appointed by the President of the United States. The Census Bureau now conducts a population count every 10 years in years ending with a 0. Between censuses, the Census Bureau makes population estimates and projections, the Census Bureau is mandated with fulfilling these obligations, the collecting of statistics about the nation, its people, and economy.

The Census Bureaus legal authority is codified in Title 13 of the United States Code, the Census Bureau conducts surveys on behalf of various federal government and local government agencies on topics such as employment, health, consumer expenditures, and housing. Within the bureau, these are known as surveys and are conducted perpetually between and during decennial population counts. The Census Bureau conducts surveys of manufacturing, service. Between 1790 and 1840, the census was taken by marshals of the judicial districts, the Census Act of 1840 established a central office which became known as the Census Office. Several acts followed that revised and authorized new censuses, typically at the 10-year intervals, in 1902, the temporary Census Office was moved under the Department of Interior, and in 1903 it was renamed the Census Bureau under the new Department of Commerce and Labor. The department was intended to consolidate overlapping statistical agencies, but Census Bureau officials were hindered by their role in the department.

An act in 1920 changed the date and authorized manufacturing censuses every 2 years, in 1929, a bill was passed mandating the House of Representatives be reapportioned based on the results of the 1930 Census. In 1954, various acts were codified into Title 13 of the US Code, by law, the Census Bureau must count everyone and submit state population totals to the U. S. President by December 31 of any year ending in a zero. States within the Union receive the results in the spring of the following year, the United States Census Bureau defines four statistical regions, with nine divisions. The Census Bureau regions are widely used. for data collection, the Census Bureau definition is pervasive. Title 13 of the U. S. Code establishes penalties for the disclosure of this information, all Census employees must sign an affidavit of non-disclosure prior to employment. The Bureau cannot share responses, addresses or personal information with anyone including United States or foreign government, only after 72 years does the information collected become available to other agencies or the general public

I-71 merges with Interstate 75 near Walton and intersects Interstate 275, after passing through Covington, the freeway crosses the Ohio River via the lower level of the Brent Spence Bridge and continues into Cincinnati. In Cincinnati, I-71 splits immediately from I-75 and heads due east onto Fort Washington Way, just east of downtown, US-50 splits from I-71 and continues east, I-71 bends north and receives Interstate 471, a spur from southeast of the city. I-71 heads in a general northeast direction through urban Cincinnati, after another interchange with the Interstate 275 beltway, the freeway leaves the metropolitan area and heads towards Columbus. It continues northeast until it reaches South Lebanon, where it begins cutting east across the plains of southwest Ohio. The freeway crosses the Little Miami River on the Jeremiah Morrow Bridge, which is a truss bridge. I-71 heads towards Columbus intersects with the bypass I-270 before heading north into urban Columbus, about a mile north of the I-70 junction, it intersects with I-670.

After another interchange with the I-270 bypass, the exits out of Columbus and continues north until near Delaware. Beginning its path to Cleveland, I-71 enters the farm country on the edges of the Allegheny Plateau. It continues in this fashion to Lodi/Westfield Center and its junction with I-76, heading north to Medina, it meets the terminus of I-271. The highway continues north into urban Cuyahoga County and Clevelands suburbs, passing Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, I-71 meets I-480 and enters Clevelands west side, continuing on to downtown. It junctions with State Route 176 and terminates at Interstate 90 on the Innerbelt, the first section of I-71 in Louisville opened in December 1966 between its terminus at Spaghetti Junction and Zorn Avenue, its first exit

Boyd Martin Theatre, with 139 seats, is known as The MeX, named for a film and theater critic who wrote for the Louisville Courier-Journal. The Brown was completed in 1925, and is modelled on the Music Box Theatre in New York City and its stages are only a part of what the Center does throughout Kentucky. For example, the Center has a department, with programs for children. Governors School for the Arts, Over 200 of Kentuckys most promising young artists come together for three weeks of interaction and artistic exploration each summer. GheensGreat Expectations Project, This partnership with the Gheens Foundation, Kentucky Institute for Arts in Education, This two-week professional development seminar involves teachers in creative writing, drama and visual arts. The Center provides services that make the theater experience possible for patrons with disabilities

Downtown Louisville is the largest central business district in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the urban hub of the Louisville, Kentucky Metropolitan Area. Its boundaries are the Ohio River to the north, Hancock Street to the east, York and Jacob Streets to the south, and 9th Street to the west …

The Cathedral of the Assumption is a cathedral and mother church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Louisville in Louisville, Kentucky. Joseph Kurtz, D.D. the fourth Archbishop of Louisville, is in residence at the Cathedral. Michael T. Wimsatt, S.T.D. serves as administrator. — History …

Thunder Over Louisville, the annual kickoff event of the Kentucky Derby Festival, is an airshow and fireworks display in Louisville, Kentucky. It is generally held each April, about two weeks before the first Saturday in May, or Derby Day. In years where Easter Sunday falls on the usually scheduled …

2018 show from the upstream side of the bridge on the Indiana shore of the Ohio River by photographer Aroun Kesavaraj

The Kentucky Derby is a horse race that is held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States, on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The race is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbreds at a distance of one and a quarter miles at …

A thoroughbred horse is depicted on the reverse of the Kentucky state quarter

Kentucky, officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state located in the east south-central region of the United States. Although styled as the "State of Kentucky" in the law creating it, Kentucky is one …

Narrow country roads bounded by stone and wood plank fences are a feature in the Kentucky Bluegrass region.

George Rogers Clark was an American surveyor, soldier, and militia officer from Virginia who became the highest ranking American military officer on the northwestern frontier during the American Revolutionary War. He served as leader of the militia in …

Louis XVI, born Louis-Auguste, was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as Citizen Louis Capet during the four months before he was guillotined. In 1765, at the …

The Democratic Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. Tracing its heritage back to Thomas Jefferson and James Madison's Democratic-Republican Party, the modern-day Democratic Party was founded around 1828 by supporters of …

A ZIP Code is a postal code used by the United States Postal Service in a system it introduced in 1963. The term ZIP is an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan; it was chosen to suggest that the mail travels more efficiently and quickly when senders use the code in the postal …

The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, is a network of controlled-access highways that forms part of the National Highway System in the United States. The system is named for President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who …

A rural stretch of I-5 in California; two lanes in each direction are separated by a large grassy median and cross-traffic is limited to overpasses and underpasses

Interstate 71 is a north-south Interstate Highway in the Great Lakes/Midwestern and Southeastern region of the United States. Its southern terminus is at an interchange with Interstate 64 and Interstate 65 in Louisville, Kentucky …

The Kentucky Derby Festival is an annual festival held in Louisville, Kentucky during the two weeks preceding the first Saturday in May, the day of the Kentucky Derby. The festival, Kentucky's largest single annual event, first ran from 1935 to 1937, and restarted in 1956 and includes: — Thunder …

The Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory, is a museum and factory tour attraction located in Louisville, Kentucky's "Museum Row", part of the West Main District of downtown. The museum showcases the story of Louisville Slugger baseball bats in baseball and in American history. The museum also …

The World's Largest Baseball Bat stands outside of the museum entrance

Fourth Street Live! is a 350,000-square-foot entertainment and retail complex located on 4th Street, between Liberty and Muhammad Ali Boulevard, in Downtown Louisville, Kentucky. It is owned and was developed by the Cordish Company; it was designed by Louisville architects, Bravura …

The Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts, located in Louisville and currently branded as The Kentucky Center, is a major performing arts center in Kentucky. Tenants include Broadway Across America, Kentucky Opera, Louisville Ballet and Louisville Orchestra. — The Kentucky Center also hosts …

Jefferson County is a county located in the U.S. Commonwealth of Kentucky. As of the 2010 census, the population was 741,096. It is the most populous county in the commonwealth. — Since a city-county merger in 2003, the county's …

Interstate 264 is a loop around the south side of the city of Louisville, Kentucky. A child route of I-64, it is signed as the Georgia Davis Powers Expressway for its first eight miles from its western terminus at I-64/US-150 to US-31W/US-60; and as the Watterson Expressway for the remainder of its …

The municipal flag of Louisville is the official design used on flags to represent Louisville, Kentucky. The original design paid homage to Louis XVI of France and the thirteen states present when the city was founded. A new design was adopted in 2003 when the city merged with Jefferson County …

The Seal of Louisville is an emblem used as a visual representation for the city of Louisville, Kentucky. Among other reasons, the seal is used to stamp documents to certify their authenticity. The city had four seals from its formation in 1828 to 2003 before its merger with the Jefferson County …

Gregory E. Fischer is an American businessman and entrepreneur who is the 50th Mayor of Louisville, Kentucky. He is a graduate of Louisville's Trinity High School and Vanderbilt University. — Fischer ran in the Kentucky Democratic primary for the United States Senate in 2008 …

The Louisville Metro Council is the city council of Louisville, Kentucky. It was formally established in January 2003 upon the merger of the former City of Louisville with Jefferson County and replaced the city's Board of Aldermen and the county's Fiscal Court (three county …

The United States Census Bureau is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the U.S. Department of …

A metropolitan area, sometimes referred to as a metro area or commuter belt, is a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories, sharing industry, infrastructure, and housing. — A metro area usually comprises multiple jurisdictions and …

The North American Numbering Plan is a telephone numbering plan that encompasses twenty-five distinct regions in twenty countries primarily in North America, including the Caribbean. Some North American countries, most notably Mexico, do not participate in the NANP. — The NANP was originally …

Letters of the alphabet are mapped to the digits of the telephone dial pad.

A hardiness zone is a geographic area defined to encompass a certain range of climatic conditions relevant to plant growth and survival. — The original and most widely-used system, developed by the United States Department of Agriculture as a rough guide for landscaping and gardening, defines …

Temperature scale used to define USDA hardiness zones. These are annual extreme minimums (an area is assigned to a zone by taking the lowest temperature recorded there in a given year). As shown, the USDA uses a GIS dataset averaged over 1976 to 2005 for its United States maps.

In the U.S. state of Kentucky, Interstate 64 travels for 191 miles passing by the major towns and cities of Louisville, Frankfort, Lexington and Ashland. It has several major junctions within the state: Interstate 65, Interstate 71, Interstate 264 and Interstate 265 in Louisville, and …

Streaking Lights on I-64 as seen from the horse/bike bridge at Seneca Park in Louisville Kentucky.

Interstate 65 enters the US state of Kentucky 5 miles south of Franklin. It passes by the major cities of Bowling Green, Elizabethtown, and Louisville before exiting the state. — Route description — Along its 137.32-mile length in the Bluegrass State, I-65 passes …

Michael Jeffrey Jordan, also known by his initials, MJ, is an American former professional basketball player who is the principal owner and chairman of the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Association. He played 15 seasons in the NBA for the Chicago Bulls …

Jordan in 2014

Jordan going in for a slam-dunk for the Laney High School varsity basketball team, 1979–80

Large denominations of United States currency greater than $100 were circulated by the United States Treasury until 1969. Since then, U.S. dollar banknotes have only been issued in seven denominations: $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50, and $100. — Overview and history — Large-denomination currency …

The sovereign is a gold coin of the United Kingdom, with a nominal value of one pound sterling. Struck from 1817 until the present time, it was originally a circulating coin accepted in Britain and elsewhere in the world; it is now a bullion coin and is sometimes mounted in jewellery. In most …

Mongol invasions and conquests took place throughout the 13th century, resulting in the vast Mongol Empire, which by 1300 covered much of Asia and Eastern Europe. Historians regard the destruction under the Mongol Empire as results of some of the deadliest conflicts in human history. In addition …

The United States one-dollar bill is a denomination of United States currency. An image of the first U.S. President, George Washington, based on the Athenaeum Portrait, a painting by Gilbert Stuart, is currently featured on the obverse, and the Great Seal of the United …